psuvm%v6m@psuvax.UUCP (03/14/84)
-This is going back a few weeks on what Jon S. Stumpf was mulling over. 0There have been enormous problems with the content of Catholic Religious Education over the past 20 years. I.e. how Catholics teach their children how to be Catholics. It sounds like Stumpf is my age or younger (35) so we probabl had the same kind of instruction in religion courses in Catholic high school. 0Briefly: after Vatican II the Church was willing to examine itself critically anf the conclusion of the Church Fathers was that it needed some changes... NONE of which were to changes in dogma. There was a massive change in liturgy (rituals and symbols) but these were meant to make the Mass and the Sacraments more meaningful. (I hate the term!!!). For many Catholics the change in the liturgy was so shocking that they lost much of their old respect for the Churc and in some cases, I assume, even their faith. 0There was a large change in the emphasis of the teaching of religion in the schools. We got away from studying apologetics and Church history and formal morality and studied some form of eclectic Scripture, morality curriculum that was INTENDED to be more meaningful to adolescents in the technical, fast-paced "modern" world. At the time I thought that it was refreshing and a welcome change from the Baltimore Catechism (which I still have and refer to, by the way) but when I went off to a non-Catholic college I found that I was un-prepared for the philosophical and theological and religious contempt of some students and even faculty. 0As I look back, I miss the old rigorous days of Catholic religious education. In this Secular-Humanist Age rigorous apologetics is CRITICAL. In those days we sacrificed rigor for relavance. This is much of the same complaints extent today. Read past issues of National Catholic Register or The newsletter from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars for more detail. This is all out in the open and above board. Please don't consider this another "horror story", I'm SICK of those carping Catholics who missed the whole point of their faith and ridicule the whole Church structure and its faithful. 0Stumpf is NOT one the carpers nor am I a proper apologeticist. Both of us struggle in or for the faith. We have a difficult religion to live in. I doubt that any priest or lay would deny it. In spite of many individual shortcomings the Church does try to do what is best for the Faithful even under strenious times. 0Which finally brings up the main point of this article: 0 >This is what I though my religion classes were trying to get across. >>>have the follower become a person<<<< They were teaching more a religion > of "self" than say "Catholicism" because we did examine some other religions << The above is reasonbly close to what Jon wrote. I condensed a bit. 0If this were the attitude and the doctrine of the 4 years of his religion courses then they were in serious doctrinal error. Remember these are courses for 14 to 18 year olds who are just learning the techniques of higher learning Their sophistication is NOT very high on the average. Indeed the SECULAR cours offerings over the 4 years will bring about a higher level of sophistication needed for college work but this takes time. The RELIGIOUS course offerings are intended to teach correct Catholic thought on MULTIPLE issues. 0One can easily be caught up in the process of attaining intellectual sophistication and training and miss the primary goals of education. When one makes a rigorous study of the faith one is confronted with complicated issues and in some cases pure mystery, (the Trinity). Without proper guidance from authority and the proper disposition of the student a crise of faith can quickly develop. 0This is what I think happened to Jon. MY opinion, and it is only that, is tha Jon received some questionable teaching at one point and was never able to recover from it. 0Catholicism is NOT a religion of SELF. Catholicism's main aim is NOT that you become a "person" or a "human-being". You are one already and its aim is your salvation that it is concerned with. Catholicism is a religion of SACRIFICE. Secular Humanism is a philosophy of self and is opposed by the Church because of this. (among other things) 0I hate to sound pedantic but one can study and agonize oneself into a lost faith. I hate to sound simplistic but eventually one must nurture the GIFT of faith. 0Jon signed his note >>>still thinking <<<. It is more. Having gone through comparable pain in this matter I empathize with him and his pain. However there is support for the person who struggles so within the Church. All is not lost to us. - Vincent Marchionni V6M@PSUVM.BITNET.